The Sharing Economy Was Different before Uber Got Its First First Big VC Round
Internet-connected computers made resource sharing vastly easier than before; smartphones with apps gave it another bump. All of a sudden, large numbers of people could list their idle assets to share or rent. And share they did, because it makes sense to do, once the costs of connection fall.
ZipCar, Zimride, and CouchSurfing were early examples of how the Sharing Economy might improve our lives. There was reason to be very optimistic.
Then Übercab showed up, pretty quickly landing a hefty amount of venture funding on the bet that seizing the well-funded first-mover advantage in ride sharing would hold globally. Uber wasn't the first mover, but it was the first mover with a budget big enough to show up everywhere. It was also an arrogant, sharp-elbowed actor in the market, betting that becoming popular with citizens everywhere would let it circumvent governments everywhere. Sometimes that worked, sometimes it really pissed cities or countries off.
Ride-sharing coops like Juno never stood a chance.